The "Shadow" As Metaphor In Old and New Tesrtaments

Posted : 19 Oct, 2011 02:38 PM

In his early October broadcast Stewart Best mentioned the fires in

Texas, which were in Bastrop county, just SE of Travis county and

Austin. he said that this part of the country, meaning Texas, etc, was

the Bible Belt, where they follow a false doctrine but claim it is

Christianity. The implication was that the fire was a judgment by God

on Texas. In the late

spring of this year when so many tornadoes were hitting Alabama, James

Lloyd mentioned the possibility that this was an act of God on Alabama

for being so supportive of the nation of Israel.



Both Stewart Best and James Lloyd were talking about dispensationalism

as the most popular man made theology.



Stewart Best, when he was talking about the fires in Texas, said there

is no longer any love.



In Greek, there are three loves, Agape, Philadelphia and Eros. Eros

is not in the New Testament.



But Agape and Philadelphia are there.



Best was probably talking mainly about Agape and Philadelphia. Which

brings up the subject of the dysfunctional nature of the American

heterosexual relationship, and one major part of this is the lack of

Agape and Philadelphia in the relationship.



I think Best was saying that when a false theology takes over, it

takes away much of the love, Agape and Philadelphia, which

characterize Christians when they are more inspired by the Holy Spirit

and love the truth (II Thessalonians 2: 10-12).



Peter uses Philadelphia in I Peter 1: 22 when he says "Seeing ye have

purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto

unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a

pure heart fervently:"



John uses Agape in I John 4: 7 ; "Beloved, let us love one another:

for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and

knoweth God."



But look at what John says in II John 1: 10-11, "Whosoever

transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not

God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the

Father and the Son.

10. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive

him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:"



To change the subject, James Lloyd today talked about Judges 9: 8-15.

This is a kind of parable of the trees. The olive, fig trees and the

vine are used in important metaphors in the New Testament, especially

the good olive tree in Romans 11, the fig tree in Luke 13: 6-9. and

the vine in John 15: 5-6. In all three of these parables, the trees

and the vine represent Israel, and in all three Israel is pruned back

because of unbelief



But in Judges 9: 14-15 there are these interesting verses; "Then

said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.

15. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me

king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not,

let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon."



They wanted the bramble to be their king rather than God. In other

words, they wanted to follow the ways of man rather than of God.



And "shadow" is used in the New Testament as a kind of metaphor - in

Colossians 2: 16-17, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in

drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the

sabbath days:

17. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ"



And in Hebrews 10: 1, "For the law having a shadow of good things to

come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those

sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers

thereunto perfect."



A "shadow" is of darkness, and not the light. The Old Covenant is a

shadow of the substance that is the New Covenant. The Old Covenant

was physical - entry was by the physical, literal DNA of Abraham,

males were circumcised in their literal flesh, and the temple was a

literal, physical building.



The substance which is the New Covenant transformed Israel into the

spiritual. This is what the parables of the fig tree and the vine

are about, getting rid of the unfruitful part of Israel.



In in the substantive New Covenant the spiritual is light and not

shadow, or darkness.



But the dispensationalists want to honor "All Israel," including

Israel of the shadows, and in doing so end up back in the physical

with their literalist-physical method of interpretation.



What is a "bramble?" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bramble says

"Brambles are thorny plants of the genus Rubus, in the rose family

(Rosaceae),,,many have recurved thorns that dig into clothing and

flesh when the victim tries to pull away from them. Some types also

have hair-like thorns."



The Israelites in the parable of Judges 9 want to make a guy

represented by a thorny plant their king? This was long before they

wanted God to give them a king and he allowed them to have Saul as

their king, who did not please God and God got rid of him and put

David on the throne. Saul represents the Old Covenant and David the

New Covenant.

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